Thomas Tears Into USGA. Again

Filed in archive Golf Equipment on April 8, 2009

Frank Thomas is baiting the bear again.

Thomas is a past Technical Director of the USGA and he has taken the august governing body of golf to task repeatedly since he left their employ.

He was opposed to the standard set by the USGA for the "spring-like effect" of metal woods - what is now referred to in infomercials as the "trampoline" effect - arguing that it was adding big yards to the distance off the tee for the pros.

That in turn, he argued, was forcing golf courses to add length, build new tee boxes and try to give the pros a challenge on a week to week basis.

Even Bobby Jones' revered Augusta track has been forced down that road.

Thomas has now been taking the USGA to task over its change to the rule governing the size and shape of grooves.

The governing body's position is that the pros spin the ball too well out of the rough, reducing longer grass to a mere nuisance and eliminating any punitive effect intended.

It's odd that the USGA should adopt the view that the game has become too easy when they established the "spring-like effect" for metal woods that added so much distance off the tee.

Anyway, Frank Thomas maintains that making it harder for the pros to spin the ball has greater harm for amateur players whose equipment must conform to USGA rules just like professional equipment must.

What really ticks him off is that the USGA has made the change arbitrarily, without any input from the recreational side of the game.

He wrote the following article which appeared in The New York Times on April 5th.